The applicant is the owner of a previously filed patent application, Ser. No. 562,869 filed Dec. 19, 1983, entitled "Self-Wringing Mop," disclosing a floor-washing apparatus made up of a single body essentially consisting of a floor-cloth mounted at the end of a stem adapted to be rotated by a motor means. The motor means is integral to a rod that can be axially moved by hand so that the floor-cloth can be put inside a basket provided with holes and withdrawn therefrom when it has to be laid down on the floor to be washed. Suitable electrical contacts allow the actuation of the motor means when the floor-cloth is inside said perforated basket so that, by means of said stem, the floor-cloth is rotated and the perforated basket, carried along therewith, is rotated too. Under those conditions, by effect of the centrifugal force, the floor-cloth drenched with the dirty washing water is pressed against the inner walls of the basket so that the water will tend to come out of the latter through the holes thereof and the floor-cloth will get suitably wringed and therefore ready to be used again over the floor.
Although the apparatus according to the above described solution attains the fundamental intended purposes, some drawbacks have emerged from its continuous use which can be summarized as follows:
the operation of the control axis for moving the floor-cloth in and out must be carried out by hand and the motor means integral thereto is axially dragged along, which involves a certain effort on the part of the operator;
the motor means can only be actuated by moving the same close to the limit switches and by keeping it in contact therewith (holding the rod manually in that position) for the time necessary to execute a complete wring of the floor-cloth;
the structure of the apparatus involves some difficulties in construction due to the number, arrangement and cooperation of the movable and/or rotating parts;
the operation of stretching out the cloth on the floor after the same has been wringed and withdrawn from the perforated basket, is not easy unless the operator assists it manually.